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In the end he tried first there was silver, and in the other five golden guineas in a little silken inner case. One of the guineas Ralph took out, and, handing it to Jock, he bade him gather up all that he had stolen and take his way back with them. Then he was to buy them from Luckie MacMorrine at her own price. "Sic a noise aboot a bit trifle!" said Jock.
Soon he had them excited enough for anything, and pursued them with many loud outcryings till they were scattered far over the moor. When he came back he said: "Mistress MacMorrine, I ken brawly that ye'll be wushin' to mak' me some sma' recompense for my trouble an' haste. Weel, I'll juist open my errand to ye.
They war wantin' some luncheon, but they were that busy shootin' that they hadna time to come, so they says to me, 'Jock Gordon, do ye ken an honest woman in this neighbourhood that can supply something to eat at a reasonable chairge? 'Yes, says I, 'Mistress MacMorrine is sic a woman, an' nae ither. 'Do ye think she could pit us up for ten days or a fortnight? says they.
A race is guid exercise for ony yin that its as muckle as Luckie MacMorrine." "But the provisions and the hen?" asked Ralph, fearing the worst. "They were on her back-kitchen table. There they are now," said Jock, pointing with his foot, as though that was all there was to say about the matter. "But did you pay for them?" he asked. "Pay for them!
'I doot na', for she's weel plenisht an' providit, I says. Mistress MacMorrine did not seem to be very well pleased at the unceremonious way in which Jock had dealt with the contents of her larder, but the inducement was too great to be gainsaid. "Ye'll mak' it reasonable, nae doot," said Jock, "sae as to gie the gentlemen a good impression. There's a' thing in a first impression."
Mistress MacMorrine did not waste a look on the herd of cows, but proceeded to go over her washing with great care. Jock had just arrived in time to make hay of it, before the owner came puffing up the road. Had she looked at the cows curiously it might have struck her that they were marvellously calm for such ferocious animals.
"What's aboot a bit chuckle an' a heftin' o' cake? Haivers!" But very quickly Ralph prevailed upon him, and Jock took the guinea. At his usual swift wolf's lope he was out of sight over the long stretches of heather and turf so speedily that he arrived at the drying-ground on the hillside before Luckie MacMorrine, handicapped by her twenty stone avoirdupois, had perspired thither.
"Tak' it till them an' welcome wi' the compliments o' Mrs. MacMorrine o' the Blue Bell, mind an' say till them. Ye may consider it a recognition o' yer ain trouble in the matter o' the kye; but I will let the provost hear o't on the deafest side o' his heid when he ca's for his toddy the nicht."
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